Air volume control



Sept. 14, 1943.

E. F. SWANSON AIR VOLUME CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 27, 1940 Sept. 14, 1943. F, SWANSON AIR VOLUME CONTROL Filed Dec. 27, 1940 2 SheetsSheet 2 Patented Sept. 14, 1943 p Ana VOLUME CONTROL Earnest F.; S wa nson, Geshen, v'lnd rassignor to I Penn Electric Switch 00., Goshen, Ind., a cor- 1;

l ae at on of Iowa ApplicationDcember 'l e ims-4 13148)! This invention relates to an air volumecontrolling d ic 'l'arlvnte e tec fi ee "W pumping 1 systems or any :hy dropneumatic' system' wherein'air is suppliedwith liquid to thetank to' maintain a pneumatic head inthe tankandit is necessary to relieve excess air accumulating in the tank. y

One object of the invention is to provide an air volume controlling device in the form of a complete unit which can be'mounted in the wall of a water storage tank 'adjacentthe' water level therein and which includes but a single valvei responsive to both air pressure andwater level within'the'tank.

Another'object is to provide me'ansto relieve 1? airfrom the tank when the water'level is low as a result of excess air in the pneumatic head of the tank, yet prevent such relief of vair when the'w'orking" pressure Within the tank is lower than a prdetermi'n'ed'amount. A further object is to provide a simple and in ex'pensiveunit' the form' of a fitting which can be screwed into the wall of a tank and which includs a relief signed and 'associatedwith the relief valve that the'float can be'entered into' the tank through theopenin'g for the fitting and will control the relief valve so as to prevent its opening except when the water lvelis low as'a result ofexcess' air'in the t'ankf A Still-a further object is toprovide therelief valve so meunteawim respect to the 'fitting and the float operated means that it can be readily-re moved for renewing a valve core therein or for i renewing a valve seat m'embero'f ain'odified iformi of the invention illustrated in my drawings wh er einmeans is provided for adjusting the pressure at which the relief valve responds.

, Q lher Objects; purposes and ch aracterist'ic fea-' I tures of the present invention will be in part ohvious from the accompanying drawingsand in part pointed out as the description of the invention progresses. In describing the, invention indetail, reference will be made to the. accompany-, ing drawings in which like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of an air volume controlling device embodyingmy invention;

Figure '2 is a 'vertical sectional" view'therethrough showing the devicemounted inthe wall of ahydropnjeumatic supply tank;

valve structure and a floats'o' de 7 meat ne ss tate tworindivid l v lv s, and m T Figure .3 isasectionalj View onth'e linefi-faot dr f ure i en' nl r s one i w liefvalve shown in sideelevation in Figure '2;

Figure'B is afsectional view 'sim'ilarto a portion of 'Figure-- 2 showing tlie' 'i'nst allati on or removal ofa relief valve ith respect-'to theniain body or ii ttin'gl of the-control device;- w

Figure '6 is a sectional view' J F u e 7: ne u mO difldjCOnSt r llQtl i g r j j Figure-8 1s a"view snn1 r te Figure 5 showing the-removal of the valve of Figure 7;

jof deep well water Figure? showing a efeq ip in with aniautomaticf r volume controlling means, several problems arise; First of all; it isuridesirablet'o provide a -control device of the kind shown in-PennPatent No; 1;'6'-74;341, of; June 19, 1928, which]permits the water pump to take in air whenever-air is necessary -to rep1enish] the pneumatic;- head within the water supply tank. Ina deep well pumping system thepumpmustbe located within twenty five feeto'f the-water in the Wellandcannot Joe-mounted onfthe top of the ground. 'Therefore' it is nOt feasibIe-"to run an air connection-down to'the pump; -msteaait-is desirable to have the {pum'pftake in air' continu-' ously while in operation 7 and then -ble'ed ofif the excess air from thewa't'er storage tank; In ether systems, air isintroduced into the tank'by' Venturi action'whi ch Wouldfrequire bleeding off of excess The operating ressure "of a hydropneuniatic mping systemvaris', depending "upon thefs'etting" of the automatic pressure responsive-switch for" controlling the pump inoto'h -fUs'ually the switch operates ata rather' wi'de differential, for instance, on at 25 poundsi pressure and off at -45 pounds" pressure, Relief of air could be permitted in responseto- Water-Ilevel alone if it were not j'for theiindes'irable result or elief occuirmg'ate; time whentheai'r pressure-is low.. From this stan'a mnt; itis desirablefto have arelief valvewhichwould relieve air only -whe'n the"- presur'e' is hig'hi 'I-Ie'retofo're; a J float valve mes: haveaccom'plished the desirable result 'of relieving Jpressure" only when the" .water level is low l and. when the air pressure" is high' Obviously, 1 such an; arrangee en ent q rissu o nra p toleini li yifiu h: e arran em nte d e el w 1 m. vol me. -z o i o s viceincludes. a lfi-ttingi adapted to belscrewed into abdssl'a fa waterltank WillllZjITheftaJnk I2 "is 6f the "usual hvdro'piieumatie "type having water therein indicated at I3 and a pneumatic air head indicated at I4. The fitting F includes a body member having inner andouter cavities i5 and I6 and a central cavity l1 communicating with the cavity l5. Extending laterally and upwardly from the cavity I! is a bore l8 having a shoulder at l9 and terminating in a threaded boss 20.

Threaded in the boss 28 is 'a sleeve nut 2i surrounding a sleevelike valve body 22. The body 22 is provided with an intermediate flange 23 adapted to seat against a gasket 24 resting on the shoulder I9.

Within the valve body 22, a valve core V is mounted. The valve core VC is 'anordinary tire valve core including a body portion "25 screwed into the lower end of the sleeve 22 and a stem 26 is slidable therein. A gasket 21 seals the members 22 and 25 relative to each other, and the member 25 has a valve seat -28. The stem 26 has a valve plug for seating thereagainst consisting of a cup 219 and a gasket or seating Washer 30 therein. A spring "31 is interposed between a cross member 32 of the body member 25 and acol lar 33 onthe stem 26. Thestem '26 is provided with ahead- 34 on its lower end.

Cooperating with the head 34 is a float'lever or plate 35 forked at one end to provide a pair of fingers 36 which straddle the stem 26 and are adapted to contact withthe upper surface of the head 34, as shown by dottedlines in Figure, 2, when the level of the water I3 is high. The float lever 35 has a pair of laterally extending pintles '31 which are oscillatably mounted in a pair of indentations 38 of a pivot plate. The plate 39 is secured by screws 48 at the bottom of thegcavity I in the fitting F. The end of the float arm 35 opposite the fingers 36 is threaded as at 4! to receive a float rod 42. float 43 is mounted on the rod 42. I The rod 42 is preferably curved to locate the float43 well below the fitting F to prevent escape of water through the valve VC when it is opened.

The sleeve 2I is used as a means to retain the valve body l2 in position in such manner that it may be removed or installed. This operation is shown in Figure 5 wherein the sleeve nut 2! has been removed, and it will be noted that the valve body 22 may be tipped to. cause the head 34 of the valve stem to clear the fingers 36 of the float arm, thereby permitting removal at the valve body 22. The valve core VC may then be renewed and the valve replaced. In performing these operations, the float rod 42 is preferably located at its lowest depending position by lowering the water 'level l3 so that the float 43 is out of the water. o

In Figures 'land 8, Ishow a modified construetion wherein a'valve body 22 and a-sleeve nut 2i are substituted :for similarelements 2-2 and 2| in Figure 4. A valve stemlti is providedhaving a valve 'head 29* thereon seated-against a gasket 3 0 by a sprin 3 The stern 26 is pro vided with'a head 34! to coact with the-fingers 36 of the float lever 35,. as already described.

The spring 3'l -is adjustable instead 'of being fixed as is the spring 3-], and'such adjustment is secured by :a follower nut 44 screwed into a cap sleeve 45. The oap sleeve 45 h'as ashoulde'r 46 engaging the peripheral marginal'edge'oi the gasket 30 to seal it-re'lative to the valve body 22. This modified form of valve is removed in a manner similar to the first "described'valve, as obvious from a comparison'of Figure 8 with Figure 5. The sleeve cap 45 is first removed and then the sleeve nut 2| may be removed.

My air volume controlling device is readily adaptable for inclusion of a pressure gauge such as illustrated in Figure '7. This gauge is of the usual Bourdon tube type, the tube being illustrated at 41 and having one end connected with a boss 48. The boss 48 enters a counterbore 49 at the bottom of the' cavity 16 and is retained in position in the cavity by a screw 56. The screw 50 is hollow so as to communicate pressure from the cavity l5 to the boss 48, with leakage being prevented by a gasket 5|.

The dial of the pressure gauge is indicated at 52 and'the cove'r'glass thereof at 53. The indicating needle is shown at 54 and is mounted on a spindle 55 which-i operatively connected with the bourdon tube 41 in the usual manner, such as illustrated in the copending application of Burton Shaw, Serial No. 300,815, filed October 23,1939.

The gauge as described is obviously well 'fitted for compact mounting .with in 'thefitting. without the necessity of 'having 'to provide 'a separate connection between the gauge and the tank L2. I

Practical operation The operation of both forms or; myfin'vention is similar. Referring to Fi'gure 2,"a"r'elfatively high water level as shown by dotted lines indi'-' cates that the roportion O'f air-aha ,Water ifi the tank is normal. Accordingly, the buoyancy "or the 'fioat causes it to exert through teenagers 36 a downward pressure on the head '34 off t'he' rel'iei valve "tofkeep it closed. Thus even though a high air pressure, for-ins't'ahcethirty o'r'thirty: iivepou'nds, will open the valve againsfthe bias or its spring 31 "when'fthe 'fio'a'tfis downfthe val e will be retained closed .Whenflthe floaiti's 'up,fas the float in eifectdiic'rea'sesthe loading of the valve. When, the Water *levelli's low, I however; as shown by solid lines, theh'ftll'e fvalv is free to he" opened 'by air pressure when'such p essure ceeds "the settingor the. "spring 3! fI'h'erefore "it takes the cornbinationof 'a'fl'ower th'anirrormal water -level and 'a'irpressure in the I i per range of available "pressures for the "water tari'k l2 "to open the relief valve and permit escape "of "excess air. 'When either theavater level is high or the air pressure is low, ther will beh oescape.

This is -desirable from the standpohrt of water level as it is "only when the water level" 15 that the air should be .permittedfto escape}- On the other hand, air should not "be permitted "to escape even though *thewater leve'l'is low, if Y't'he pressure within the tankj' liafppens 5 to" be in the lower part of its 'range otherwise'it will-inter fere with proper-"displacement -of'-wate-r-frozn the tank by the pneumatic '-head when asaueet is o-peneq I J-f .1; My disclosed air volume controlling device oh-I viousl-y requires the use-oi but a single .tvaive' 'oifl relief type and a float so 'cooperatingiwith' 'it as to permit it to operatein its relief capacity only, when the water level is lower, than desired;. Re versely, when the water levelislower than diesired, relief of air is notj permitted unless;the air pressure within the tank-exceeds a;satisfac tory operating value. I

My invention has been described in the foregoing specification andillustrated in fthe 'ii'rawings more or less precisely 'as 'todetafl's'.1 1't is'to be understoodj however, i that fchahige s f" ay be made in the arrangementairwproportions "of parts and equivalents may be substituted with,-

l -1. In .a-deepwellsair volume controlling device, a fitting adapted for mounting in the wall ,of a

:hydropneumatic supply tank adjacent the. water level. line therein, ,a spring loaded reliefvalve carried by said fitting, opening outwardly relative thereto and set for relief of excess air there:-

through against the bias of said spring upon .such airattaining a predetermined pressure and acting directly againstsaid relief ,valve, and float operated" means mechanically connected with said relief valve so that the buoyancy of the float tends to hold the valvexclosed whenthe water in said tank isab'ove a predetermined maximum level.

2. In an air volume controlling device, a fitting adapted for mounting in the wall of a hydropneumatic supply tank, a relief valve carried by said fitting and set for relief of excess air therethrough upon such air attaining a pressure within the upper range of pressures at which the system operates, said relief Valve permitting escape of excess air upon the attainment of such pressure, and a float responsive to the level of liquid in said tank and engageable with said relief valve so that the buoyancy of the float tends to hold the valve seated when such level is above a predetermnied maximum.

3. In an air volume controlling device, a fitting adapted for mounting in the wall of a hydropneumatic supply tank adjacent the water level line therein, a relief valve carried by said fitting for permitting escape of excess air upon the attainment of a predetermined pressure, float operated means to engage said relief valve and thereby retain it closed when the water in said tank is above a predetermined maximum level, and a gauge mounted within said fitting, said fitting having a passageway from the interior thereof to said gauge to communicate the tank pressure to the gauge mechanism.

4. A deep well air volume controlling device comprising a fitting adapted to be mounted in the wall of a pneumatic water supply tank adjacent the water level therein, a Valve carried by said fitting for connecting the interior of said tank to atmosphere, float operated means responsive to the level of the water to engage and positively retain said valve closed when the water exceeds a predetermined level, spring means to retain said valve closed except when the pressure of air within said tank exceeds a predetermined amount and said float is in lowered position to disengage said valve and thereby permit opening thereof, and gauge mechanism within said fitting and communicating through the fitting with the interior of the tank.

' 5. ,An air volume controlling device comprising a fitting adapted to be mounted in the wall of a pneumatic water supply tank receiving water and air, a Valve carried by said fitting for connecting the interior of'said tank above the water level therein to atmosphere, float operated means responsive to the level of the water, said float operated means having a portion to physically engage said Valve to mechanically retain it closed when the water exceeds a predetermined level, springmeans to retain said valve closed except when the pressure of air within said tank exceeds a predetermined amount'and said float is in lowered position to thereby disengage said 'valve of a pneumatic water supply tank which receives water and'air, azsingles'valvecarried by said fit-, ting for ipermitting iescapev of air from said;tank to atmosphere, float operated meansv responsive tov thelevel of. the water in ,theitank; to engage saidvalvexand tend to retain itclosed due to the buoyancy of the float when the water;exceeds. a predetermined level, and means :bias'ing' said valve to'remain ,closed exceptzwhen the; pressure ofiair within: said -itank exceeds a predetermined value, 7

,7. Means for relieving excessive .air from;.,a water supplyv tank. having a pneumatici head therein comprising a fitting, a relief valve mounted therein and float operated means to retain said valve closed at any water level exceeding a predetermined maximum, said valve opening outwardly and having a head for engagement by said float operated means, said valve including a sleevelike body, a sleeve nut surrounding said body and screwed into said fitting, said valve body being capable of beingtipped to a position to disengage said head from said float operated means after said sleeve nut is removed.

8. Means for relieving excessive air from a water supply tank having a pneumatic head therein comprising a single valve, float operated means tending to retain said valve closed due to the buoyancy of the float at any water level exceeding a predetermined maximum and spring means to aid said float operated means in retaining said valve closed and to retain it closed independent of said float operated means when the float operated means responds to a, water level less than said predetermined maximum except when air pressure in said tank overcomes the pressure of said spring means.

9. Means for relieving excessive air from a water supply tank having a pneumatic head therein comprising a fitting having a shouldered bore, a relief valve mounted therein, and float operated means to retain said valve closed at any water level exceeding a predetermined maximum, said valve having a head for engagement by said float operated means and including a sleevelike body, a sleeve nut surrounding said body and screwed into said fitting, said valve body having a flange to seat on said shoulder and being capable of being tipped to a position in said bore which permits disengagement of said head from said float operated means after said sleeve nut is removed. i

10. In combination with a storage tank adapted to be supplied with air and water under pressure, a fitting adapted to be attached to a tank adjacent the normal water level therein, a relief valve carried by said fitting, said fitting having an opening to receive said relief valve, a sleeve nut surrounding said relief valve and coactible with a flange thereof to seat it against a shoulder in said fitting, a float arm pivoted to said fitting and engageable with the head of an outwardly opening valve stem in said relief valve, said sleeve adapted to be attached lto a it'ank adjacent the normal water .level therem,:arelief valve carried by said valve "body, a, float arm pivoted to said valve body and engageable with (the top of e he'ad of an outwa'rdly :openin'g tvalve stem m -said relief valve, a ffioatFon said aznnandre'spons'ive' to thewater level in the tank, a spring follower for *said relief; valve, said follower being adjustable to vary the :relief "pressure at which said valve :re-

memes spends, said ifloat whenresponsive ts afrelatively high water level loading vsaid relief valve due to the buoyancyrof atheifioat .to thereby tend to :hold the valve 'close'd against openingthereof'in =res'ponse to-air pressure.

:12. In combination :with a storage tank adapted tape-supplied wit hair a'nd water under pressure, a single valve carried by said tank, float operated means responsive i'to the level of "the Water in the tank to tend to retain said valve closed due to buoyancy of ithefloat 'when the water exceeds a predetermined level, and spring means .to retain isaid valve closed except when the pressure of air within \said sta'n'k exceeds a predetermined amount'and-said float is in lowered position .to permit opening :of said va'lveand thereby escape of air from said'tank. V

. EARNEST vF. SWANSON. 

